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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT, 



LEAF-SHADOWS 
AND ROSE-DRIFT 



LEAF-SHADOWS 
AND ROSE-DRIFT 

BEING LITTLE SONGS FROM 
A LOS ANGELES GARDEN 

BY OLIVE PERCIVAL 




CAMBRIDGE : PRINTED AT 

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS 
MDCCCCXI 



e^^.v 



V 



k 



COPYRIGHT, 191 1, BY OLIVE PERCIVAL 



Thanks are due The Butterfly, The Lotus, 
Smart Set, The Graphic and Sunset, for 
permission to repriiit certain of these poems 



©CU30361G 



:^ 



TO 

CLARISSA GRAVES PERCIVAL 

WHO LOVED A GARDEN IN THE BERKSHIRE HILLS 
AND TO 

HELEN MASON PERCIVAL 

WHO LOVED A GARDEN IN 
THE MIDDLE WEST 



The Down-hyl Claim, 
Los Angeles, 191 1 



And now my joy I in my garden take ; 

I want not wealth nor power ; 

Through lifers long hours ^ V II stroll and think 

and pause 
Before each little flower. 

T'ao Ch'ien, 
Fourth Century A. D. 



SPRING 

THE DISTURBERS 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA . 

STAR-RISE 

IN POSSESSION 

THE CHEROKEE 

REHEARSAL 8 

APRIL 9 

BABY BLUE-EYES lo 

THE NEW MOON ii 

THE BEAUTY OF GLAZENWOOD . . 12 

ALIEN SPRING 

BROKEN TRYST 

OUTSIDE 

IN THE FOOTHILLS 16 

HER SYMBOLS 17 

SUNSET SKIES 18 



13 
14 
15 



Embers 19 

LILACS 20 

GARDEN MAGIC 21 

THE CHARM GIVER .... 22 

THE FAVORITES 23 

THE MIRACLE ^4 

YOU 25 

RELEASE 26 

THE ROSE-ARBOR 27 

MAY NOON 28 

SUMMER 

UNDER THE TREES 31 

JUNE 32 

THE PLUMBAGO HEDGE .... 33 

TREES AFTER DARK 34 

THE HUMMING-BIRD 35 

LOST 36 

MAGNOLIAS 37 

MY HILL 38 

viii 



SILENCED 39 

DISILLUSIONED 40 

ENVY 41 

JULY 42 

HANDICAPPED ...... 43 

UNDER THE JACARANDA TREE . . 44 

DISLOYALTY 45 

THE PIONEER 46 

A COUNTRY ROSE-HEDGE ... 47 

ESCAPE 48 

FAVORITISM 49 

LIFE 50 

FOREST FIRES 51 

AMARYLLIS 52 

A CHOPIN NOCTURNE .... 53 

CLOWNS 54 

THE LILY-POOL 55 

CONVALESCENCE 56 

BREATH OF THE WEST .... 57 

AUGUST NIGHTS 58 

ix 



RETROSPECT 59 

MOONRISE 60 

SABBATH 61 

DEFEATED 62 

SUMMER VIGIL 63 

AUTUMN 

WINTER'S APPROACH 67 

SEPTEMBER AFTERGLOW ... 68 

AUTUMN VICTORIES 69 

DO YOU REMEMBER 70 

LIFE'S PATCHWORK 7' 

THE POET AND THE PHILOSOPHER . 72 

OCTOBER AFTERNOON .... 73 

THE SECRET 74 

NOVEMBER 75 

DISCIPLINED 76 

MYRTLE 77 

UNFORGETTING 78 

THE LAST ROSE 79 

X 



THE MEADOW-LARK 80 

RESIGNATION 81 

SUNSET CLOUDS 82 

OUTLIVED .83 

NOVEMBER'S ROSE-DRIFT. ... 84 

WINTER 

THE FIRST RAIN 87 

WINTER TWILIGHT 88 

THE REMEMBRANCER .... 89 

A WINTER MORNING 90 

THE PAST 91 

TRANSMUTATION .92 

IN THE RAINY SEASON .... 93 

VALUES 94 

ASHES OF ROSES 95 

A RAINY SUNDAY 96 

IN WINTER 97 

CLEAR SKIES 98 

PREJUDICE 99 

xi 



READING IN THE GARDEN . . .100 
A CHRISTMAS DAWN . . . .101 

DUALITY 102 

THE SCHEME ENTIRE . . . .103 

THE READER 104 

POINTS OF VIEW 105 

TO A YEIZAN COLOR-PRINT . . .106 

OLD BOOKS 107 

DESTINY 108 



FEBRUARY 



109 



MONA LISA no 

PAGANISM Ill 

AFTER THE RAIN 112 

YELLOW TANAGERS 113 

GRAY DAYS 114 

A LOS ANGELES SUNSET . . . .115 

ADEQUATE 116 

THE END 117 



SPRING 



THE DISTURBERS 

My garden is a quiet place ; 

It 's strange I cannot read : 

But O there are so many dreams 

And visions one must heed ! 

The roses whisper, whisper ; and all the 

towhees talk ; 
Then O the dancing shadow-leaves on the 

mossy walk ! 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Throughout the year, with ev'ry dress, 
With veils of light, of haze, of gloom, 
She wears her regal bridal-wreath 
Of Eden-scented orange-bloom. 



STAR-RISE 

The radiance of the young, young world is 

paling ; 
Grove and garden forget to sing; 
For through the spring-scented twigs of gray, 

gray fig-trees 
Glows the white ev'ning star of spring! 



IN POSSESSION 



Skies and hills and trees are mine ; 
O the beauty of the Spring ! 
Day of fragrant quietude ; 
Night of silences that sing ! 



THE CHEROKEE 

Through the lilac mist of April twilight, 
My roof gleams white with its fairy-snows 
That, under tropic sun, melt all too quickly ! 
O wonder-beauty ! O magic rose ! 



REHEARSAL 

The little flow'rs in the sweet and spear- 
straight grasses 
Devoutly nod and sing, in primal ecstasy ; 
All 's repetition of Botticelli springtimes, 
Of southern Aprils long ago, in Italy ! 



APRIL 

O ! when the great sky is blue, blue, blue. 
And the winds blow straight from the sea; 
O ! when the canyons are sweet, sweet, sweet 
With the springtime's old pageantry : 
It 's then from under a roof we must, sing- 
ing, wander far, — 
Forgetting sphinxes and riddles, from dawn 
to sunset-star ! 



BABY BLUE-EYES 

Not for the sunshine-daisies 
But for you all my praises, 
Tenderest flowers of blue ! 
Eyes o* my dear dream-children, 
Wet with the tears of spring dew ! 



THE NEW MOON 

Above the gum-tree's silhouette. 
In sky of pale, pale gold, 
Night lifts an Indian silver ring. 
Her broken bracelet old ! 



II 



THE BEAUTY OF GLAZENWOOD 

Sunrise sky and the sunset sea 

Are here in the heart of this my inconstant 

rose ; 
All youth's glamor and youth's appeal ! 
Does beauty suffice, O rose of a day ? Who 

knows ? 



ALIEN SPRING 

The high, high hills, the green, green hills, 
The snow-white clouds from the western sea 
Are now my metaphor of spring ; 
But once it was the anemone ! 



13 



BROKEN TRYST 

Through the white dawn-mist of April, 
(A bird sang somewhere near !) 
To the old rose-tree I hurried ; 
I called — O did you hear ? 
I touched a red, red rose — the petals shed ; 
Then — then I remembered that you were 
dead! 



'4- 



OUTSIDE 



The beauty of April's miracle 
Once brought ecstasy ; 
But since I 'm by joy forgot, it is 
Formal pageantry ! 



>5 



IN THE FOOTHILLS 

On a wonderful day like this, 
The first of the spring, 
Do you know, O My Love, a song 
That is perfect enough to sing ? 

O My Love, O My Love, alas ! 
The beauty of spring, 
Though in every rose and vine. 
Is in none of the songs men sing ! 

On a radiant day like this, 
The first of the spring. 
Only flowers and clouds and birds 
With adequate gayety sing ! 



i6 



HER SYMBOLS 

Gardenias are hers and the orange ; 
Jasmine and the long fairy-lace ; 
The daphnes ; magnolias ; tuberoses ; 
Lilies of a mystical grace ! 
Sweet, sweet, sweet are Her Flowers ! 

Bride-roses are hers and the daisy ; 
Wake-robins and dawn-flowers pale ; 
Azaleas that glimmer like moon-mist ; 
Iris and the shy virgins-veil ! 
White, white, white are Her Flowers ! 



17 



SUNSET SKIES 

My garden is flaunting ten thousand roses 
But perverse am I : I love the best 
Those heavenly fields of azaleas, iris, 
Now abloom for all, above the vv^est ! 



j8 



EMBERS 



Laugh not at me, Little Children, 
For I 'm as young as the Spring ! 
See the red silk of the prune-tree ! 
The sheen of the blackbird's wing ! 



19 



LILACS 



Sweet are the lilacs of that far-ofF spring ; 
Sweet is the voice of one long dead ! 
Fragrance of lilacs to my heart must bring 
Pain honey-sweet, uncomforted ! 



GARDEN MAGIC 

April-night and my garden tell their secrets 
to me, 

For I watch by the pool, beneath a dead 
olive-tree. 

White-magic is learned from an imaged star ; 

And sorcerer's spells from the basil-jar. 

But it 's heigh-ho ! It 's heigh-ho ! I none dare 
tell, 

But the white birds and blue moths, at matin- 
bell ! 



THE CHARM GIVER 

As I was hurrying up Life's hill, 
Once on a May-morn fair, 
With all my dreams and in search of Joy, 
I met with Goody Care. 

She waylaid me with horror-tales 
And took my toys from me ; 
But then at parting she gave a charm, 
Called Perfect Sympathy ! 



THE FAVORITES 

O there are roses white in my garden, 
White as a bride-dress, white as a shroud ; 
And there are flawless roses beside them 
Pink as a shell is, or sunrise-cloud ! 

O there are roses red in my garden, 
Redder than war is, redder than wine ! 
But yellow roses, yellow as sunset. 
They are the roses that I call mine ! 



*3 



THE MIRACLE 

My heart was full of painted toys, 
The dreams of dreams and childish joys ; 
Forlorn, forlorn, forlorn was I, 
When Love came ! 

But miracle : my world made new ! 
New stars, new dreams that all come true ! 
I 'm singing, singing, singing now 
Since Love came ! 



24 



YOU 



You are akin to the singing morn 
And to the peace of noon ; 
O you are one with the burning sun 
And with the wearied moon ! 
Many-mooded as sea or fire : 
Only you are my one desire ! 



*5 



RELEASE 



Song of bird and pinkest dawn, 
Scent of rose in air ! 
Over seas my love is gone 
And I do not care ! 

Old, old call of chanticleer, 
Maids bid me arise ; 
I must up and sing, for fear 
Of my Mother's sighs ! 



a6 



THE ROSE-ARBOR 

White boughs, white boughs, 
Bent with the Maytime snows ; 
White heaped the path : 
Drifts from a Banksia rose ! 



17 



MAY NOON 

The little parks have lost their Eden-green ; 
The town 's all a blatant show ! 
Where is the wonder of the almond-bloom ? 
O where did the Springtime go ? 



28 



SUMMER 



UNDER THE TREES 

My garden has many whisperers 

And gossips very, very dear ; 

(Their charm the graceless only can forget !) 

O every time I listen I 

Leave off the old, subverting fear 

And cease to be but a marionette ! 



3« 



JUNE 

When the pepper-tree trails her lace in the 

dust 
And the roses rest ; 
When at dawn and at dusk the frogs whir in 

tune 
And the rain-gods jest : 
It is June, white June 1 



3» 



THE PLUMBAGO HEDGE 

I wake and with bewildered eyes 

Behold the summer, noonday skies, 

Lying in little blossom-flecks along the wall; 

It is a sign for me, I know, 

Of many heavens here below: 

Radiant, tender harmony awaiting all ! 



33 



TREES AFTER DARK 

Close against the old, old mystery 

Of the blue night-sky, 

Stand black and tall the eucalyptus trees ; 

They sway like marching spearmen in the 

breeze ; «* 

And aloof, like idlers, live-oaks 5tand, 
Watching them go by ! 



34 



THE HUMMING-BIRD 

Did you see, did you hear that green glint 

of a bird, 
The pomegranates over and under ? 
O a garden is ever, each day in the year, 
A place of Edenic, sweet wonder ! 



35 



LOST 

For a little mountain-brook, snow-cool, 
Through these desert -years I grope; 
But all is mirage, mirage, mirage 
And deliria of hope ! 



36 



MAGNOLIAS 

Brimming with the sweet of a tropic summer 

Are the blossom-cups white of the magnolia- 
tree ; 

Drugged with dreams are they of enthralling 
sorrows, 

Of incredible joys, — by a far, far, moonlit 
sea! 



37 



MY HILL 

Between the brown and oak-plumed hills 

Is the hill of my dreams, desires ; 

All day a realm of blue, blue mist 

And at sunset all opal fires. 

Ah ! the feet of the heedless its paths have 

found ; 
But for me it is ever forbidden ground ! 



38 



SILENCED 

Last night, the gray bird sang by its nest 
In the jewel-green camphor-tree ; 
The nest now is cold; silent the bird; 
O the pain of death's mystery ! 



39 



DISILLUSIONED 

Time's poet and lover find June-days sweet ; 

Yet are they sadder to me 

Than twilight pools where dead autumn-leaves 

float; 
Than sobs that die in a violin's throat ; 
Or winter's white pageantry ! 



40 



ENVY 

I would that I were an early riser, 

Up and alert before dawn ; 

Then would I know the long story 

That you, my dear Morning Glory, 

Hear from that bird on the lawn ! 

I would that I were a flow'r — and wiser! 



JULY 

Bleached the hills and the river-bed ; 
Brown the mesa, where linnets sing ; 
All the days are white glare, white dust. 
O the mists and the dreams of Spring ! 



42 



HANDICAPPED 

The nosegay Life handed me at birth 
Is such a crude, crude thing and strange, 
All odorless, thorny, gaudy flow'rs ! 
Who but a god dare rearrange ? 



41 



UNDER THE JACARANDA TREE 

At all times of the year, is my garden a place 
Where for me many miracles come to pass ; 
Into flowers to-day, the blue sky I saw 

change : 
Jacaranda flowers upon the grass ! 



44 



DISLOYALTY 

With gay nasturtiums embroidered o'er, 

Is Summer's dusty, dusty gown ; 

Lobelia-blue is her jeweled belt ; 

An oleander-wreath her crown ! 

All sweetness, brightness ; yet we tire of her 

perfection 
And dream of winter verdure, with unfair 

affection ! 



45 



THE PIONEER 

Nobody knows his name to-day 

But far greater than soldier or king was he ; 

As in this land of blighting sun, 

For the future he planted a tree, a tree ! 



46 



A COUNTRY ROSE-HEDGE 

White dust of a rainless summer 
And chill of the fog at night 
Are hard to endure, 
O Roses ! 

But winter 's a gleesome mummer 
And all of these months of blight 
His masked smile shall cure, 
Poor Roses ! 



47 



ESCAPE 

All the hills around were high, were high •, 
But the sea- fog broke the dream ; 
And the snow-white bird flew by, flew by ! 
See how pale the death-lamps gleam ! 



48 



FAVORITISM 

Mourning-brides, daisies, sweet-johns and 

pinks 
And pretty-maids, pansies, snow-on-the-lea ; 
All, despite the white glare and neglect, 
Are blooming so gayly, daily, for me ! 



49 



LIFE 



An awkward scramble ; then 

A song of shrill delight ; 

The dangers of the nesting-time; 

At last, when comes the resting-time, 

A wounded, silent flight : 

The fate of birds and men ! 



50 



FOREST FIRES 

A summer of white dust-smother ! Meads 
All silence ; the foothills bleaching weeds ! 
Garden and bee are dead and pools are dry ! 
Pray ! Pray ! For devil-fires enflame the sky ! 



51 



AMARYLLIS 

O the world it withers in the desert-wind ; 

(And three moons away is the rain !) 

The wild-gourd vine swaggers through the 

roadside-dust. 
Too content with its white domain. 
In my brown, drear garden, is a sudden pink : 
(Not a rose on vine nor on tree !) 
*Tis a row of lilies and without one leaf! 
O adorable bravery ! 



A CHOPIN NOCTURNE 

A dark, cool night and over-sweet 
With tuberose breath ; 
A jeweled javelin in the heart : 
Ecstatic death! 



S3 



CLOWNS 

O the goggled hop-toads are fat, old clowns ! 

All day, in a fern-bed so cool, do they loll 
and wait 

And rehearse their joke ; but at dusk, attired 

In spotted, green silk, how alert and import- 
unate ! 



54 



THE LILY-POOL 

I have heard of a lake, where great ships 

sail; 
On whose shores twenty cities take their 

pleasure ! 
I am hid in a garden, to reflect 
One white lily, a lonely woman's treasure ! 



55 



CONVALESCENCE 

As content and as still as a lizard of bronze, 

On the terrace I lie, 

With beautiful, rhythmic dreams. 

Is it true I once followed the rush of the 

town ? 
And ne*er looked at the sky ? 
How droll and remote that seems ! 



56 



BREATH OF THE WEST 

White nights, white days drift by ; 

And the summer goes 

Under a fleckless sky ; 

The sunset-sunrise breath 

Is of greasewood, sage ! 

O the mere scent-of-rose 

Who M buy ? Not I ! Not I ! 



57 



AUGUST NIGHTS 

The garden 's parched and dusty flow'rs 
Grow sweet, grow cool with dew ; 
The country silence sings and brings 
Serenity anew 1 



58 



RETROSPECT 

There is one thing more, more futile 
Under the moon, under the sun. 
Than to water dead, dead rose-vines : 
It is to weep, when love is done ! 



59 



MOONRISE 

The splendor of the southern summer-moon, 

new risen, 
Appalls like seraphim, between the trees and 

hill! 
Unworded, old, ancestral joys and fears 

awaken ! 
In adoration, all the little birds are still ! 



60 



SABBATH 

I have for mine a hidden sanctuary 
And there my spirit, on its knees, 
Can say a rosary of joy's renewal. 
Beneath the ancient, patient trees ! 
Ever-soothing, ever-healing is their paternal 

voice ; 
And, made sweet by garden-stillness, my soul 

can sing, rejoice ! 



6x 



DEFEATED 

I would that my life were the life of a rose, 
Mere serenity my brief, brief lot ; 
And then when the summer is ended for me, 
Who will know or grieve ? I '11 be forgot ! 



62 



SUMMER VIGIL 

The silent, midnight lily-garden is a place 

Of rest, of dreams exalted, through the moon- 
white hours. 

Of Night's great beauty ; but alas ! one hears 
the sigh 

Of Springtime's vanished and forgotten little 
flow'rs ! 



63 



AUTUMN 



WINTER'S APPROACH 

The tea-rose hedge has such young, red 

leaves; 
O Summer-blinded, come out and see ! 
O hear the song of the desert-wind, 
In praise of rain, of fertility ! 



67 



SEPTEMBER AFTERGLOW 

The foothills are nearer (such great, brown 

beavers ! ) 
And arroyo and canyon are lakes of lilac 

mist; 
The tree-spires rise deeply blue on the mesa ; 
And the mountains encircle with chain of 

amethyst ! 



68 



AUTUMN VICTORIES 

The geranium-seed, with white wings spread, 
Is flying far, far, far, — now it at last is free ! 
The chrysanthemums bold are parading 
In a triumphal, a final felicity ! 



69 



DO YOU REMEMBER 

Do you remember 

That long-ago September ? 

The autumn-leaves all wet with rain ? 

The autumn-daisies in that old lane ? 

I remember ! 

Do you remember 

That desolate November, 

When autumn-leaves repeat the words 

Of Love, who died ere flew the birds ? 

I remember! 



70 



LIFE'S PATCHWORK 

Here a hope and there a hope ; 
Some songs and dreams are there ; 
Here are fears and there are tears, 
Failures and a prayer ! 

Here a flower, there a star ; 
And here of joy a shred; 
Here a grief and there a grief; 
Over-wide the bed ! 



71 



THE POET AND THE PHILO- 
SOPHER 

" O what is so great as The Beauty of 
Life ? " He asked of The Sage. 

'' Its loneliness only, Dear Child ; for thy 
soul 's a lark in a cage ! " 



72 



OCTOBER AFTERNOON 

The petals of the flow'r of time, the year, 

Are falling, falling ; 

Paler the sun ; 

The sweeping, unseen winds and mists of 

fear 
Are calling, calling, 
My youth is done ! 



73 



THE SECRET 

Last May, I filled the blue hawthorne-jar 
With fragrant leaves from bush and from 

tree ; 
It is the tomb of a girlhood's joy; 
And yet I call it a pot-pourri ! 



74 



NOVEMBER 

Brown, brown, brown is the arroyo, — 

Hill-encircled, misty, gold ! 

Little leaves whirl and float in the breeze ; 

Leopard-alisos gleam through the trees ; 

Still, still, still is the arroyo ! 

O allurements manifold ! 



75 



DISCIPLINED 

I took my heart and I made me a god ; 
Home was its name and 't was fair to see ; 
But life, the despot, as tribute claimed it. 
I '11 not appeal from the tyranny ! 



MYRTLE 

In my garden of bright, tranquil hours, 
In the gloom of the old live-oak tree. 
There are shining some small, starry flow'rs. 
Dimly blue like a mist-covered sea. 
Their name and their fame is in many a 

book; 
And yet hov^r demure, deferential they look ! 



77 



UNFORGETTING 

When they dissect my heart and my brain, 
Do you know what they '11 disclose ? 
Merely a farewell kiss in the rain 
And a fragrant brier-rose ! 



7« 



THE LAST ROSE 

Sunshine pale and the sea-wind 

Touched my head ; 

Life was begun. 

Pink my heart glowed ! Then rains fell, 

I was dead 

And summer done ! 



79 



THE MEADOW-LARK 

The praise of the shy, little meadow-lark 
Rings with certitude ; 
Her tone is all Orient-pearls and gold ; 
Supreme beatitude ! 



80 



RESIGNATION 

Since her young eyes did close in sudden 
sleep 

My life 's a cloudy night o*er long, its dewy 
flowers scentless ; 

Through starless solitudes I plod alone. 

They say the dawn will compensate for lone- 
liness relentless ! 



8i 



SUNSET CLOUDS 

The lost armadas of my lost years 
Majestic float to a saffron shore ; 
And now at dusk they furl their red sails 
And drift in seas where no breakers roar ! 



82 



OUTLIVED 

Deep, deep, deep the love of my life is 

buried 
Beneath heavy years of care ; 
Immortelles nor willows the spot adorn not 
And no angel watches there ! 



83 



NOVEMBER'S ROSE-DRIFT 

The heaped-up petals are sweet, beneath the 

blight ; 
All dying, dying 
That which was a rose ! 
Mere reminiscence the voice-of-earth to-night 
And sighing, sighing 
Of a great repose ! 



84 



WINTER 



THE FIRST RAIN 

O the ground is rose-pink with the wet coral- 
beads 

Lost by our old pepper-tree, 

When she joined in the dance of the wind 
and the rain ! 

Pardonable gayety ! 



87 



WINTER TWILIGHT 

The Marechal Niel roses hang heavy with 

rain ; 
Visitor-robins are singing ; 
And from the dispirited passion-vine old 
Yellow-jade lanterns are swinging ! 



88 



THE REMEMBRANCER 

Under my window, a green carpet is spread ; 
No sacred prayer-rug and yet 
Precious it is : for on that day in Mid-March 
You planted this mignonette ! 



89 



A WINTER MORNING 

O the rain, with her lute and her mandolin, 

Came last night a-singing ! 

And the garden made merry, her rosy bloom 

On the paths a-flinging ! 

Now vanished the singer j yet come and see 

The sun-jewels sparkling on grass and tree ! 



90 



THE PAST 

The past is a darkened corridor, — 
Echoing, chilling, haunted 
By Memory's bats and her dragon's roar; 
(Horrid with ooze and slime is the floor !) 
Who is the man not daunted ? 



9' 



TRANSMUTATION 

When first I heard my Mother sing, 
The tone was silver, white and fair ! 
But now the silver all has crept 
From out her voice and o'er her hair ! 



9z 



IN THE RAINY SEASON 

Long, long day of winter rains 

That sob and sob and drip, drip, drip like 

tears ! 
Perfect joy such gloom might be, 
Sweet with roses, melody ! 
But O the silent, the estranging years ! 



93 



VALUES 

The day was a disappointment, 
A weariness, a sorrow; 
But gazing at the afterglow 
Brings courage for the morrow : 
Personal griefs reduce to proper size. 
Under the high and tranquil evening skies I 



94 



ASHES OF ROSES 

And was this the bright image of my flow'r- 

decked shrine ? 
Hollow brass fire discloses ! 
Desolation surrounds : can I forget my faith 
And the ashes of roses ? 



95 



A RAINY SUNDAY 

Long, long day of tears and silence. 
Of gloom, of rain ; 
Someone's day of joy and sun; 
My day of pain ! 

Ceaseless drip of sighing palm-tree, 
Though tears are vain ; 
But, at dusk, a meadow-lark 
Sings in the rain ! 



96 



IN WINTER 

A perfect rose, all a silvered-pink, 

Bloomed by my door at morn ; 

(Life is so sweet, sweet ') 

I went to claim it at eventide 

But winds had scattered it far and wide j 

Silent I stood, forlorn ! 

(Is life so sweet, sweet ?) 



97 



CLEAR SKIES 

The fire of the Christmas-flower is quenched 
And the earth is bright and sweet with rain; 
The dragon-fly crawls on top of his leaf; 
Who shall sulk and who distrust again ? 



98 



PREJUDICE 



December asserts my calendar; 
My garden declares it 's spring ; 
I 'd rather believe the hyacinths 
Than any mere printed thing ! 



99 



READING IN THE GARDEN 

Along the hard, windswept paths of the gar- 
den, 

December's brown leaf-birds fly, noisily fly ; 

Four Persian kittens like dervishes chase them, 

Or pause to pretend — who knows what ? 
Who knows why ? 



A CHRISTMAS DAWN 

The bright marvel of the morning star has 

paled ; 
All the world is swathed in gloom, in dreams ; 
But one steadfast little Star-of-Bethlehem 
In the songless, rain-wet garden gleams ! 



DUALITY 

Whenever I step from stone to stone, 
By the ancient toy-trees from Hokusai's 

Japan ; 
Whenever I climb the wishing-bridge, 
I remember I live on a paper-fan ! 
But I *ve searched by the pool and by the 

bamboo, 
All in vain, for my fan ! Now what would 

you do ? 



THE SCHEME ENTIRE 

If I had a rose plate and a Ming yellow jar; 
A room full of books, a Korin lacquer-box ; 
If I had a good cook, a new motor-car, 
A place out of town, a blue sea with some 

rocks ; 
If just trifles like these were mine for a 

minute, 
I would love this old world and want to stay 

in it ! 



103 



THE READER 

When all the world is a table of books 
And the night is never ending; 
When the big, white moon is a shaded lamp 
And no guests my time are spending; 
When essentials like these are arranged for 

me, 
How extremely agreeable life will be ! 



104 



POINTS OF VIEW 

My Mother derides as junk and old-iron 
These Japanese sword-guards so dear to my 

heart ; 
She states that they cost four tailor-made 

dresses 
(Which moths might have eaten !). How 

cheap is High Art ! 



TO A YEIZAN COLOR-PRINT 

Ah ! this is the way I used to look, 
In the golden days of august Japan, — 
In five robes of crape, all cherry-bloom ; 
With an obi wide ; and a full-moon fan! 
Was I not shy ? 'T was fashionable then ! 
See my hair: how amazingly modern 'twas 

dressed ! 
Look at my hands ! My tiny, red mouth I 
But the way that I managed to walk was the 

best ! 
I remember my gowns were all shockingly 

dear 
But I had those I needed (eight hundred and 

more) ; 
So I always looked pretty, no matter the 

hour; 
And a lady that pretty was never a bore ! 



1 06 



OLD BOOKS 



My old, old books that ever wait 
In proud humility, 
The emeralds of Cortez great 
Can never buy of me ! 



107 



DESTINY 

There 's never a day, O Love of Mine, 
There *s never a day for you and me 
To meet and to rest beneath Life's Pine; 
Forgot by The Seven Gods are we ! 
Yet on the same lotus, with closed eyes, 
We shall dream together in Paradise ! 



io8 



FEBRUARY 

Deep is my love for the firelit hearth, 
The chosen book in the quiet room, — 
Where I may dream all the dreams of life. 
Content to wait my long night-of-doom ! 
But there 's a lure in dimpling pools. 
The scent of wet blossom and bending pine ! 
When skies come down and touch the hill, 
The ends of the earth they at last are mine ! 
Not content am I to gaze then through the 

panes : 
But, a king, I 'm out and away when it rains ! 



109 



MONA LISA 

(My Black Cat) 

At life with student-eyes, 

You look in sweet surprise 

And silence meek ; 

When will your schooling end ? 

When will you condescend 

With me to speak ? 

O small Companion of my garden-days, 

How very sweet are meditation's ways ! 



PAGANISM 



O to be a mocking-bird, 

A mocking-bird, 

A-singing in the lane ! 

O to be a deodar, 

A deodar, 

A-tossing in the rain ! 

O to be in tune with life ! 

O to be in love with life. 

Aloof from all the pain ! 



Ill 



AFTER THE RAIN 

Out in the vineyard, the larks are calling : 

" Arise, O Sleeper, arise, arise ! 

See San Antonio's snow-crown glisten 

Above your radiant paradise ! 

The scars, the despairs of summer are gone ; 

Laughter is better than sorrow ; 

Arise and behold God's sky and the hills ; 

Roses for ev'ry to-morrow ! " 



1X2 



YELLOW TANAGERS 

The enchanting splendor of old, old Peru 

In the lemon-tree flashed, one chill day of 

rain : 
Yellow tanagers, many miles ofF their course! 
Will that breath-taking vision e'er come 

again ? 



X13 



GRAY DAYS 

Under a sky of gray, flawless jade, 
Orange-trees blossom, red roses fade 
And the peacocks scream ; 
Dreams hurry back from memory's sea; 
Sunshine subservient now must be 
To a rainbow gleam ! 



14 



A LOS ANGELES SUNSET 

O I saw our Three Mountains at sunset 
And their snows were a tourmaline fire ! 
Then they glimmered like opals and faded 
To dreams, dreams of forgotten desire ! 



ADEQUATE 

After the dolorous gloom of The Rains, 
Red roses of Spring ! 

Perfectly praised is God's beautiful earth, 
For meadow-larks sing ! 



ii6 



THE END 

Good-bye, good-bye 

To a day of shadowed, rose-sweet hours ; 

Bitter-sweet charm o' fallen leaf. 

Good-bye, good-bye 

To my garden of a thousand flow'rs ! 

O but the year was brief, brief ! 



117 



If thy home a garden has not 
And an old^ old tree ; 
Whence lifers daily joys can come^ 
TVise men cannot see, 

Chen Hao-tzu : 1783 



CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
U . S . A 



DEC 23 1911 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



DEC 2^ -^ 



tr 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

018 392 098 4 | 



LE A I-'- SHADOWS 

ANB ROSE-DRiF'" 

BEING lAT'nj-, SO-Ni..^ 

A LOS ANGELES GARDEN 

Bxj Olive PercivaT 



